Robert Earl Keen – Happy Prisoner

Buy Robert Earl Keen’s Happy Prisoner just for the “Peter Rowan Intro”, which isn’t even a song, or an introduction of Peter Rowan, for that matter. Rowan needs no introduction and actually sings with Keen on an earlier track. This intro is an explanation of how he wrote “Walls of Time” with Bill Monroe. Following it is an actual recording of “Walls”, which is also a reason to buy this record. Keen and the band are sounding pretty darn good on one of the best tunes of a great genre. So, you drop ten bucks, you’ve got your money’s worth, and the rest is profit.

Top of the profit column for me is the duet with Lyle Lovett on “T For Texas”. It reminds me of what it must have been like on that front porch on Sunday, with the Presbyterians on their way to Luby’s, but you know that story. The two old Aggies give this great Jimmy Rodgers tune its due and seem to be having a pretty good time doing it.

Happy Prisoner is playing as I type this, and I have to tell you, it makes me happy. The happiness starts with the Flatt & Scruggs tune “Hot Corn, Cold Corn”, and continues all the way to the last track, a duet with Natalie Maines on “Wayfaring Stranger”. Throughout, Keen and company explore murder and death (“Poor Ellen Smith”, “Long Black Veil”, and “99 Years For One Dark Day” stand out) along with other themes, like motorcycles. “Vincent Black Lightning” the Richard Thompson classic, is a favorite of mine, and Keen even enunciates a bit like Thompson on this song. Actually, now that I think about it, James dies in that one, too. I suppose bluegrass without death wouldn’t be bluegrass. Still makes me happy, though.

Even though all true Robert Earl Keen fans know that he and his first band won second place in the International Bluegrass Competition in Crockett, Texas, back in the day (according to Keen there were only three bands in the contest), it is still a little surprising that he finally did a bluegrass album. To make it even more interesting, he told Michael Verity over at The Bluegrass Situation that when he called Lloyd Maines to see if he would produce the record, Maines confessed that this would be his first bluegrass outing. They are very much up to the task, of course, but just to make sure, they brought in some interesting reinforcements. Danny Barnes, Sara Watkins, and Kym Warner stepped in with the REK regulars — Rich Brotherton, Bill Whitbeck, Tom Van Schaik, and Marty Muse — to make this thing happen. They get it done. To be clear, if you’re looking for a Del McCoury record, this isn’t it. This is Robert Earl Keen playing bluegrass, which is fine with me, and I think it will suit most of his fans.

I saw Keen a few years ago at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. Yes, he did “Five Pound Bass” in that show. How could he not? But that’s not the part I want to tell you about here. At the end of the show, he and the band unplugged, walked to the edge of the stage, and played a couple of songs old school acoustic. This made me think about how talented Keen’s regular touring band is, and how good they would sound doing more acoustic music. At the time, I was thinking about Keen doing an album of bluegrass versions of some of his own songs. Now that he’s done it with this set of covers, I’m going public with my idea, because the road goes on forever and bluegrass never ends.

Happy Prisoner was released February 10 on Dualtone.